Wagner is a somewhat controversial figure nowadays because of several essays and articles he wrote expressing antisemitic views. Given
the later history of Germany, and the fact that Hitler was a big fan of Wagner, there have even been claims that Wagner's works contributed
in some way to the rise of the Nazis. To this day Wagner remains almost a persona non grata in Israel, where performances of his works are
rare and invariably raise loud protests and demonstrations.

On the positive side, Wagner made heavy use of the musical concept of leitmotif in
his operas. Leitmotif is the association of particular musical themes with specific characters, items, or moods within a musical work.
This technique had been used before, but Wagner was the one who really brought it to full maturity and ensconced it within the western musical
canon as a technique worthy of use.

Leitmotif would later notably be used by film composer John Williams. Inspiration from
Wagner's work led Williams to develop specific character-associated themes in his work, including the famous Jaws theme associated
with the giant shark of the film.
And of course a few years later Williams would go on to compose music that would quickly become a much more widely known example of leitmotifs than
even Wagner's work: the Star Wars soundtracks.